TrickyNearly God (Durban Poison/Island) (star) (star) (star)...

Greg KotCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Tricky

Nearly God (Durban Poison/Island) (star) (star) (star) 1/2

Though not officially the new album from trip-hop auteur Tricky, this will do quite nicely as a bridge between his acclaimed 1995 release, "Maxinquaye," and the forthcoming "Pre-Millennium Tension," due in October. This project, which includes a handful of covers from sources as disparate as goth-rockers Siouxsie and the Banshees and rapper Slick Rick, finds the producer-emcee once again treating dance music as a mood-altering drug, in which sensual, surreal texture is wrung from the oblique rhythms.